Dairy products are of course vegetarian rather than vegan. Cephalopod ink is potentially in a similar category, in that although squid, cuttlefish and the eight-tentacled members of that class whose plural is obscure can produce ink without being killed, i strongly suspect that they are in fact killed
to provide ink. This is unnecessary if it can be harvested from them, but there is an additional ethical problem of having to scare them to get them to release it, and the quantities would be fairly small anyhow.One solution might be to breed cephalopods to secrete larger than usual quantities of ink and release it without being alarmed. They could then be milked in special cephalopod dairies like cows, and vegetarian cephalopod ink would then be available.This would be a good thing because sepia would then be easily available without killing cuttlefish and it would also be easier to produce vegetarian blue food without artificial colouring. Also, what is the nutritional value of the ink? Is it high in iodine or bromine? How blue is it?

Aha! Sepia *officinalis* - so it's been used medically in the past. Intriguing - thanks for the link.Can catecholamines be absorbed via the digestive tract? I ought to know that. If not, there's no problem, but if they can be, there's possibly another use that may or may not correspond to some kind of medical benefit. However, i know that squid ink at least, and i think also octopus ink, is eaten.

Can catecholamines be absorbed via the digestive tract? Yes, but not always are the absorbed products as active as when ingested. Most dopamine in circulation is the sulfated form, produced in the gut when enzymes act on incoming catecholamines. That form won't make you symptomatic of an overdose, but further metabolism can begin the activation of sympathetic nerve stimulation. I'm unable to locate a direct warning or citation to the effect, but I would avoid sepia if I were using a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) drug for high blood pressure or for depression. As circumstantial evidence, see the Octopamine link.

Thanks, [reensure]. As well as that, i understand that there are tyrosinases in squid ink, but would these not be denatured by heat?There do seem to be things in it with various fairly strong physiological effects. As far as the link is concerned, [reensure], thanks a lot, that's actually very relevant to my profession, and i'll have to think through how to apply this. Ephedra's been under a bit of a cloud over here recently thanks to abuse by people trying to lose weight and being harvested unsustainably.

Ink I think, is made from zinc,
and harvested by thirsty mink,
These mink they drink and sink much ink,
They really don't mind the wrinkly stink,
So if you want a lot of Ink, Get yourself a ink drinking mink......